KHV Testing for Export – Quality Nishikigoi

Quality Nishikigoi have been doing our own KHV testing for around 4 years now.

We use a kit which is recognized by some of the countries we export to, so we need the paperwork associated with the tests to be able to ship some of our Koi abroad.

Obviously, we cannot do the tests ourselves when we require export permits, even though they are very easy to do. We use one of the top fisheries vets in the UK. This Vet is on the committee of the Royal Fisheries Vets. He specializes in fish for a lot of his work.

He has written papers on Virus’s and KHV in the past.

Dr Stuart Becker comes to us around twice a year and tests the Koi for KHV, then gives us his independent results so we can send to the countries authorities. He cannot, under law give any false information. If he found any positive results at Quality Nishikigoi he would have to inform Cefas straight away.

The tests are pretty instant and are 100% accurate for positive results. They are 72% accurate for Negative result on one fish. When you add Koi from different ponds and do more tests this increases to over 90%.

These tests are better than all methods apart from PCR testing. PCR testing can be done by Cefas in the UK, and the Koi does not have to be destroyed. This is a route we will be looking into in the future. However the tests we use now are accurate and easy to use so simple to tests our Koi on arrival.

Some comments from Dr Becker

“Your test is an antigen-capture ELISA, which is listed as a recognised method of diagnosis in best practice guidelines.

– Temperatures of 23-25C will accelerate the development of KHV disease but doing this is not a recognised method of disease surveillance. Surveillance requires the use of scientifically recognised testing methods.

. Temperatures lower than 17C and/or higher than 25C are suboptimal for KHV development, and so will slow down the development of disease.”

“The latest guidelines / peer-reviewed expert opinions on heat ramping are, unfortunately, that it’s probably useful but only if you combine it with the use of naive sentinel fish, and laboratory testing. It’s also recognised to be a source of poor welfare if prolonged, so the method of application has to be carefully thought through to avoid that.”